Credit union robber gets 40-month term

A 25-year-old man has been ordered to serve 40 months in a federal prison after robbing a Fargo credit union at gunpoint last December.

Denver Lee Tergesen also must serve three years of supervised release after prison, participate in a mental health treatment program and undergo treatment for gambling addicts, a judge ruled Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Ralph Erickson ordered Tergesen to pay $769.70 restitution to the teller and credit union.

Tergesen took nearly $10,000 from the First Community Credit Union, 1801 45th St. S., on Dec. 18. Authorities tracked Tergesen through his cell phone, arresting Tergesen in Detroit Lakes, Minn., while he was driving a stolen car.

Public defenders asked for leniency because of a mental disorder caused by military service in Iraq, where Tergesen was involved in a firefight and mortar attack. Lawyers also said Tergesen suffers from a gambling addiction that’s a symptom of chronic post traumatic stress disorder.